The Muckraker's Reference Section
Grover Norquist
Grover Norquist is the President and Founder of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), a key figure in the conservative movement, and an old friend of Jack Abramoff.
While Jack Abramoff was Chairman of the College Republicans National Committee, Norquist served as his Executive Director from 1981-1983 (he was succeeded by Ralph Reed). He went on to found ATR in 1985 at President Reagan's request. In 1994, he helped draft the Contract with America. Along with Tom DeLay, he launched the K Street Project in 1995, an effort to track the political affiliation of lobbyists with the goal of ensuring that firms hire and donate to Republicans. Since 1993, he also has held a weekly strategy meeting at ATR with lobbyists, think-tank conservatives, and politicians; both Abramoff and Pres. George W. Bush are reported to have sent envoys to these "Wednesday Meetings."
See TPMmuckraker for developments in these stories.
Key Points:
In the 90's, Norquist worked to prevent the imposition of American minimum wage and immigration laws in the Northern Mariana Islands while they were represented by Abramoff.
Norquist and Abramoff worked together to help Abramoff's first big client, the Northern Mariana Islands. The garment industry there relies on cheap labor from China, and the local government was trying to avoid imposition of American minimum wage and immigration laws. Norquist promoted the Marianas in his meetings and speeches as a model of free enterprise, while Abramoff collected nearly $9 million in lobbying fees and sent members of Congress on golf trips to the islands.
Abramoff billed the islands for thousands of dollars for 'discussions' with Norquist as well as for airfare to the islands for ATR staff members.
ATR, while listed as a non-profit organization, has acted as a front for lobbying operations.
Under the guise of a nonprofit enterprise, ATR was never required to disclose the identities of its financial backers. On March 31, 2006 the Boston Globe uncovered ATR's multi-million dollar donor list, exposing a list of contributors that included an array of special interests ranging from tobacco companies to Indian tribes to a Las Vegas casino. As the main lobbyist for ATR, Norquist was really lobbying for the interests of these donors. The largest individual donor was a Democratic Mississippi trial lawyer named Richard Scruggs, who contributed $4.3 million to ATR with the hope that Norquist would work to defeat a congressional proposal that could have cost Scruggs most of a $1 billion legal fee he had won from a landmark tobacco case. ''I paid a lot of money," Scruggs told the Globe. ''I thought that was the way the game was played."
Abramoff's tribal clients made contributions to ATR in exchange for obtaining meetings with President Bush.
Norquist arranged meetings with Bush every year from 2001 through 2004. For example, on May 9, 2001, Grover arranged a meeting between the Coushatta, Choctaw and Bush. Two other corporate entities were there. The price to attend was $25,000 each.
ATR was used to funnel money to Reed's Century Strategies and other organizations, sometimes taking a cut.
In 1999 and 2000, ATR funneled at least $1.15 million of the Mississippi Choctaw's money to two different Christian organizations in Alabama: the Alabama Christian Coalition ($850,000) and Citizens Against Legalized Lottery ($300,000). In another documented case of Norquist funneling money for Abramoff to Reed, in 2000 eLottery was lobbying against a Republican bill to outlaw the purchasing of lottery tickets online. According to the Post, "The eLottery money went first to Norquist's foundation, Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), and then through a second group in Virginia Beach called the Faith and Family Alliance, before it reached Reed's company, Century Strategies. Norquist's group retained a share of the money as it passed through."
ATR took a cut from a number of the checks that passed through the organization. In the case of eLottery, ATR kept $10,000 of a $160,000 check. And the McCain Report for the Committee on Indian Affairs notes that ATR kept $50,000 of the Mississippi Choctaw's money in 2000. Abramoff seems to have expected the first $25,000 deduction from a $300,000 check, writing in a 2/7/00 email that "we need to give Grover something for helping." He seems to have been surprised by the second one, however, exclaiming, "Grover kept another $25,000!"
Norquist is well connected to two major players in the Abramoff scandal: the Council for Republican Environmental Advocacy and David Safavian.
Along with Gale Norton, Norquist founded CREA in 1997. Indian tribes paid nearly $500,000 to CREA as part of Abramoff's effort to gain access to Interior Department officials. Abramoff told casino-tribe leaders in one e-mail that CREA was "Norton's main group outside Interior" and signed up his clients as members of CREA's board of trustees for a $50,000 donation.
Norquist also has close ties with David Safavian, the former Chief of Staff of the General Services Administration who was indicted for obstructing the Department of Justice's investigation. After working with Abramoff as a lobbyist, Safavian worked as a principal at Janus-Merritt Strategies, where Norquist was a consultant. Safavian was also a founding member of the board of Norquist's Islamic Free Market Institute, which shares an office with Norquist's group, Americans for Tax Reform.
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